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Saturday, July 12, 2014

#72: Narrative Pacing: The Oddity of Games

It has
been some time since I finished my adventures in the world of Dragon
Age: Origins and its various DLC packs. To that end, I have been
comparing my experiences with that game to others that I have played.
What I was pondering through this introspection is the question of
narrative pacing in the world of video games. As with most properties
of storytelling, the general rules governing narrative pacing undergo
changes when applied to this new realm of media. Since a lot of my
problems in Dragon Age: Origins came from its pacing, and Awakening
felt better because it improved said pacing, it would be pertinent to
contemplate the topic in this week's post.

One of
the things that stands out most to me with regards to video game
pacing is how players are willing to wait a little longer for the
plot to advance, in comparison to consumers of other media. In a
book, if the plot was about solving a murder mystery, and then the
author spent an entire chapter discussing the philosophical nature of
crime scene investigation and criminology, people would wonder why
that decision was made. While that information may certainly be
tangentially related to the plot and interesting in and of itself, it
would not be relevant to the mystery and the main plot of the book.
Film also has this kind of problem. If a movie character in a spy
movie was talking to another character, then some random bad guys
step into the scene for the protagonist to beat up for five or ten
minutes, followed by the protagonist resuming their conversation
where they left off, the audience would be completely confused. They
would think to themselves what the point of that detour was, why it
took so long, and why it was not cut from the final product.

However,
this is demonstrably not the case in video games. As players, we
accept when a conversation in a video game is interrupted by an
attack by random gang-bangers. In fact, that tends to be fairly
normal as far as games are concerned. The reason is pretty obvious.
People purchase video games so that they may play video games. It is
okay for the story to briefly take the backseat, because more often
than not it is not the reason players are sitting on their couch with
a controller in hand. We can comfortably go dungeon crawling for
about an hour or so without any advancement of the main plot until
the end. The model of story->gameplay->story->gameplay has
been a mainstay in gaming for as long as games began to focus on
their narratives. Most other mediums would consider it weird for the
plot to go so long without advancing in a meaningful way, but that is
so common that it still remains a very ingrained model for game
designers.

Less,
but still fairly, common is when the story of a game takes a detour
in order to prolong the length of a game and allow for more gameplay.
These kinds of additions can be hit or miss, depending on their
context. For example, Fort Frolic is one of the most loved segments
of the original Bioshock game. In terms of the central conflict of
Atlas vs. Andrew Ryan, nothing major is accomplished in Fort Frolic
and the plot comes to an overall standstill. Having said that, both
the environment Fort Frolic and the madness of its master, Sander
Cohen, are so interesting that most players either would not notice
or would not care. Though it adds nothing to the narrative, the game
is richer for the existence of this content.

By
contrast, The Fade in Dragon Age: Origins is one of the most reviled
example of this going wrong, for good reason. While attempting to
rescue the mages in the Circle Tower, the player party is ambushed by
a Sloth Abomination and forced into a deep sleep. In the world of
Dragon Age, a person's soul is in a spiritual realm called The Fade,
home to both divine and demonic entities alike, when sleeping. This
sets up a three hour segment where the protagonist needs to break out
of The Fade, rescuing his/her other party members in the process.
Like Fort Frolic, it does not serve any real purpose beyond adding
length to the game. Unlike Fort Frolic, it is not interesting enough
in its own right and drags too long to hold the attention of the
player. Along with the Deep Roads, The Fade has a major negative
impact on the pacing of the game. It is so reviled that there are
mods whose sole purpose is to remove that one section from the game.
Regardless of the rest of the game, the mere existence of this
content does make Dragon Age: Origins lesser.

There is
also the fact that gaming is a unique medium in that the skill of the
player can also have a direct impact on the pacing. A skilled, or
veteran player will have an easier time completing individual
sections of a given game, resulting in an overall faster pace than a
newcomer/novice player. Books and films have easier times in pacing
themselves because they do not require such skill, thanks to their
passive natures. The game has a tougher time because the mechanics
need to be paced as much as the plot or any individual gameplay
section needs to be. Even then, there always exists the possibility
than a player will never finish a game because they just cannot
complete a difficult mission. It is a unique challenge that I truly
do not know how to overcome.

In the
end, it is hard to determine if there is a specific pacing that can
appeal to the most people. Like many things in life, it comes down to
the individual to decide if a game's pacing is fit for them or not.
Movies and books tend to have very specific formulas for the way they
are paced, but that is something others have discussed before.
Because each game is so radically different from the next, they call
for different structures and styles. Each such structure requires its
own unique pacing to best take advantage of that. I do not profess to
have concrete answers as to how games should be paced or how
developers should consider the type of game they are making when
considering pacing. However, I do think it is an interesting question
to ask after playing a game like Dragon Age: Origins.